The Pacific Ocean begins here

Tokarevsky Lighthouse

One of Vladivostok’s main attractions is a lighthouse perched on a rocky Tokarevsky Spit. The “end of the world” is a go-to place for both visitors and locals: it is a vantage point that shows where the land ends and the Pacific Ocean begins. Every Vladivostok resident has at least one self-portrait with the Tokarevsky Lighthouse in the background.

Tokarevsky Spit is almost 800 meters in length. A man-made island was created as the foundation for the lighthouse, and a narrow damn was also built to connect it to the shore. Built in 1876, the Tokarevsky Lighthouse is one of the oldest operating lighthouses in the Russian Far East. The white tower on the octagonal foundation, as we know it today, was erected in 1910; the height of the lighthouse tower is 11.9 meters.

In marine navigation, a spit (or a sandspit) is a narrow strip of land that starts at the shore and opens up only during low tide.

The Tokarevsky Spit consists of two sections. The first stretches from the shore to a small island with an 85-meter power mast that can be reached by car.

The second section leads to the lighthouse. At low tide you can walk on it without getting your feet wet. At high tide the water rises 20 centimeters, so you can still pass, but the water will be ankle-deep. To an on-looker from shore, it would appear that you were walking on water like Jesus. And for the person in the water, it would feel as if he were balancing over the endless abyss of the sea.

During winter on Tokarevsky Spit, you can see spotted seals (also known as largha) swimming in the Vladivostok waters. It’s best to admire them from a distance, so as to not disturb the wild animals with excessive human curiosity.